‘Once’ leads Tony nominations

Musical nabs 11 nods for 2012 awards

Broadway musical “Once” led the pack of 2012 Tony nominations, nabbing a total of 11, including one for top tuner.

Along with “Once,” the race for the new musical Tony will include “Newsies,” “Nice Work If You Can Get It” and “Leap of Faith,” while “Other Desert Cities,” “Clybourne Park,” “Peter and the Starcatcher” and “Venus in Fur” rose from a crowded slate of new non-musicals to score a nom for play.

The nominations answer a number of lingering questions in a legit awards season that’s proven unusually difficult to predict given the absence of a clear frontrunner along the lines of last season’s “The Book of Mormon.”

In the new tuner category — generally acknowledged as the only award that can drive Broadway box office — slots for “Once,” “Nice Work” (which nabbed 10 noms) and “Newsies” (eight) were generally thought to be foregone conclusions. It was the fourth slot that was considered up for grabs; it went to “Leap of Faith,” and was the only nom that musical received.

The haul for “Once” includes book (Enda Walsh), direction (John Tiffany) and choreography (Stephen Hoggett), as well as acting bids for leads Steve Kazee and Cristin Milioti, plus a featured thesp nom for Elizabeth A. Davis as well as design mentions.

Of the all the categories, the list for original score felt the most like commentary from the group of about 30 legiters who make up the nominating committee. A couple of the season’s attention magnets weren’t in the running: “Once” wasn’t eligible because the majority of its songs are drawn from the 2006 indie movie that inspired it; ditto “Nice Work,” which takes its score from the Gershwin catalog. Alan Menken and Jack Feldman’s score for “Newsies,” which incorporates a chunk of new songs augmenting the tunes from the 1992 movie on which it’s based, and Frank Wildhorn’s music for short-lived fall outing “Bonnie and Clyde” both made the cut. But the category was filled out not with a couple of the season’s other eligible new musicals — such as “Leap of Faith,” “Ghost” or “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” — but with two music-heavy new plays: “One Man, Two Guvnors” and “Peter and the Starcatcher.”

Among the play nominees, “Peter” scored nine noms; the strong-selling revival of “Death of a Salesman” and the Broadway import of Brit hit “One Man, Two Guvnors” snagged seven apiece.

The new play category was probably the most competitive of the season thanks to a slate unusually packed with nonmusical offerings. Jon Robin Baitz’s “Other Desert Cities” and Bruce Norris’ “Clybourne Park” both seemed near certainties for a nomination, but it was tough to pick sure bets amid the abundance of potential other nominees. Although chances for Rick Elice’s “Peter and the Starcatcher” looked good, the slot that went to David Ives’ “Venus in Fur” could just as easily have been filled with another solid contender such as Richard Bean’s “One Man, Two Guvnors,” David Henry Hwang’s “Chinglish,” Nicky Silver’s “The Lyons” or Theresa Rebeck’s “Seminar.”

One of the nominees for musical revival, “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess,” overcame a controversy arising from Stephen Sondheim’s preemptive criticism of the project, snagging 10 noms including a directing bid (Diane Paulus) and acting mentions for Audra McDonald, Norm Lewis, Philip Boykin and David Alan Grier. Also in the musical revival category are “Follies” (eight noms), “Evita” (three) and “Jesus Christ Superstar” (two).

For the play revival award, two works that have recently landed in the top 10 on the weekly sales chart, “Salesman” and “Best Man,” vie for the trophy with “Wit” and “Master Class,” a pair of now-closed offerings from Gotham nonprofit Manhattan Theater Club.

Acting noms went to thesps including Philip Seymour Hoffman and Andrew Garfield (both of “Death of a Salesman”), Linda Lavin (“The Lyons”) and John Lithgow (“The Columnist”).

As is the case every year, the list left some legiters buzzing about those left off it. Prominent performers not making the cut included Elena Roger for her love-it-or-hate-it take on the title role in “Evita” as well as castmate Ricky Martin, although co-star Michael Cerveris did score a nom. Matthew Broderick, the lead of “Nice Work,” also wasn’t on the list, but his co-stars Kelli O’Hara, Michael McGrath and Judy Kaye each scored a nom.

Despite a critical drubbing and the overall industry fatigue inspired by its long and rocky road to opening, “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” didn’t walk away empty-handed. It took a pair of design noms, one for the sets by George Tsypin and one for costumes by Eiko Ishioka.

The Tonys also named the winner of the org’s annual award for regional theater, going this year to Washington, D.C.’s Shakespeare Theater Company.

Nominations were announced Tuesday morning at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts by Main Stem fave Kristin Chenoweth (“GCB”) and Jim Parsons (“The Big Bang Theory”), who will topline an upcoming Broadway revival of “Harvey” this summer. Awards will be handed out in a June 10 ceremony broadcast live from New York’s Beacon Theater on CBS.

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A PLAYJames Corden, “One Man, Two Guvnors”Philip Seymour Hoffman, Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman”James Earl Jones, Gore Vidal’s “The Best Man”Frank Langella, “Man and Boy”John Lithgow, “The Columnist”

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A PLAYNina Arianda, “Venus in Fur”Tracie Bennett, “End of the Rainbow”Stockard Channing, “Other Desert Cities”Linda Lavin, “The Lyons”Cynthia Nixon, “Wit”

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICALDanny Burstein, “Follies”Jeremy Jordan, “Newsies”Steve Kazee, “Once”Norm Lewis, The Gershwins’ “Porgy and Bess”Ron Raines, “Follies”

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MUSICALJan Maxwell, “Follies”Audra McDonald, The Gershwins’ “Porgy and Bess”Cristin Milioti, “Once”Kelli O’Hara, “Nice Work If You Can Get It”Laura Osnes, “Bonnie & Clyde”

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A PLAYChristian Borle, “Peter and the Starcatcher”Michael Cumpsty, “End of the Rainbow”Tom Edden, “One Man, Two Guvnors”Andrew Garfield, Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman”Jeremy Shamos, “Clybourne Park”

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A PLAYLinda Emond, Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman”Spencer Kayden, “Don’t Dress for Dinner”Celia Keenan-Bolger, “Peter and the Starcatcher”Judith Light, “Other Desert Cities”Condola Rashad, “Stick Fly”

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A MUSICALPhillip Boykin, The Gershwins’ “Porgy and Bess”Michael Cerveris, “Evita”David Alan Grier, The Gershwins’ “Porgy and Bess”Michael McGrath, “Nice Work If You Can Get It”Josh Young, “Jesus Christ Superstar”

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A MUSICALElizabeth A. Davis, “Once”Jayne Houdyshell, “Follies”Judy Kaye, “Nice Work If You Can Get It”Jessie Mueller, “On A Clear Day You Can See Forever”Da’Vine Joy Randolph, “Ghost the Musical”